by Caleb Fort
The Daily Lobo
The normal amount of uranium on Earth is two parts per billion.
Maria Santelli, who uses Albuquerque tap water, said hers contains twice as much uranium.
Santelli said Sandia National Laboratories probably played a role in the increased uranium content of her water.
"We all know about Hiroshima, and we all know about Chernobyl," Santelli said. "But I still don't think we know very much about the nuclear contamination worldwide, and I don't think we know much about the nukes next door at Sandia Labs."
Santelli, who is with Citizens Against Radioactive Dumping, spoke to about 40 people at a forum Monday night at the Southwest Center For Peace and Justice. She presented a booklet called "The Nukes Next Door: Shedding Light On A Nuclear Neighbor, Sandia National Laboratories." The pamphlet contains reports on radioactive waste at Sandia.
Paul Robinson spoke about a "mixed waste landfill" on Sandia property, which is only a few miles away from the South Valley. He said the two-acre landfill contains 100,000 cubic feet of waste, including chemical solvents and radioactive materials. The landfill is unlined, which leaves the waste free to migrate into groundwater that is only about 450 feet below the dump, he said. He said solvents from the dump have already been detected 125 feet below the dump, which shows that it is ineffective at preventing contaminates from entering the groundwater.
Michael Padilla, a spokesman for Sandia, said Sandia plans to put an "engineered cover" over the landfill and monitor it carefully to ensure the waste doesn't escape.
Robinson said he does not think the present plan for the landfill will be effective, especially since some of the dangerous isotopes in the dump, such as uranium 238, have 4.5 billion-year half-lives, which would make it nearly impossible to monitor them until they are no longer radioactive.
"I understand why they think that's wise, but to me, it seems shortsighted and cheap," Robinson said. "That's kind of the opposite of excellence and doing it right the first time."
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Santelli discussed depleted uranium and how it contaminates Sandia. She said depleted uranium is what is left after the enriching process, but it is still about 60 percent as radioactive as the original uranium. Several tests using depleted uranium as projectiles have been conducted on Sandia that produce "aerosolized uranium," which causes cancer if it is inhaled or ingested, she said. Depleted uranium also has a half-life of 4.5 billion years.
Will Keener, from Sandia Labs, said in an e-mail that depleted uranium at the laboratories is under control.
"Sandia has studied the distribution of depleted uranium at its sites on Kirtland Air Force Base and has cleaned up the DU to standards of cleanliness directed by the regulatory authorities," Keener said.
Despite radiation and potential groundwater contamination, both Santelli and Robinson said the worst aspect of Sandia is that it focuses on tools of destruction.
"The most unhealthy thing at Sandia National Labs is that it is oriented toward manufacturing weapons rather than more productive technologies," Robinson said.
